How Leafcutter Ants Cultivate a Fungal Garden to Degrade Plants and Provide Insights into Future Biofuels

Credit: Image courtesy of davemantel | iStock

Leafcutter ants use leaves, a type of fungus known as Leucoagaricus gongylophorus, and bacteria to cultivate a fungal garden that degrades hard-to-break-down plant material. PNNL scientists recently developed a method that allows them to visualize the intricate inner workings of how these organisms work together to accomplish this process, lending important information for bioproducts creation.

« How Leafcutter Ants Cultivate a Fungal Garden to Degrade Plants and Provide Insights into Future Biofuels

Credit: Illustration by Mike Perkins and Nathan Johnson | Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Scientists have spent decades researching clean and efficient ways to break down plants for use as biofuels and other bioproducts. A species of ants works with a type of fungus to accomplish this naturally. Kristin Burnum-Johnson and her team set out to investigate how this is accomplished at the molecular level.

« How Leafcutter Ants Cultivate a Fungal Garden to Degrade Plants and Provide Insights into Future Biofuels

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